Nirosha Jagodaarachchi, CEO and Co-Founder of British Cosmetics, has worked her way to the top of the corporate world as a leading female figure who inspires those around her, thanks to her strong determination and consistent work ethic. With key characteristics unique to her approach to leadership and with the experience she was exposed to from a very early stage, Nirosha has managed to gear and steer British Cosmetics to a successful destination that has marked itself with its own brand recognition.

Coming from a family that was corporate-centric, Nirosha experienced the fruitful parts of entrepreneurship from a very young age. With both her parents being the owners of a popular optometry services business, she was somewhat familiar with a business operational scenario. She acknowledges and cherishes the exposure as her greatest privilege, as she fondly remembers how eager she was to visit her parents’ optical shop and study how the corporate structure would function. Her keen interest in learning new things and the memories she created through those experiences were embedded in the back of her mind, which eventually led her to guide an establishment. She eventually got an opportunity to be involved in a buying office, which initially introduced her to the work ethics of excellence, strategic planning, and being decisive. Her time in that great entity served as a model for her leadership development, as she developed a strong desire to be independent and self-sufficient in life.

“My determination and persistence would be the strongest skill factors that may have driven me all this time. I believe leaders should always push barriers and raise the bar to the next level of excellence while being resilient during challenges and confident throughout the process. Without determination, I wouldn’t have succeeded against these unimagined and boundary-breaking challenges.”

With an iron will of support holding her courageous mind, Nirosha has always aspired to break the bounds of superficial norms as she steads forward on a path of success. She uniquely places herself in an industry that is women-centric as a strong female leader who caters to creating a rigid support system for many ambitious women. For Nirosha, being a woman is a majestic crown and her most precious asset, as it adds a special essence of compassion and energy into the role she plays as a leader. Facing the many challenges and hardships that are put in front of her, Nirosha maintains her personality while adapting to the new changes in a healthy and productive manner.

“I feel being a woman, adaptability is especially embedded in our genes. Somehow, we fail to notice this. Adaptability helps you to explore your horizons, without a doubt.”

With a progressive mindset fixed on an imperishable path of hard and smart work, Nirosha emphasizes the importance of this quality as the whole world strives to adjust to the post-pandemic era. Nirosha embraces the positivity of the new as she acknowledges the new normal. British cosmetics as a company were met with the challenge of restrictions that were imposed on imports during the pandemic. The company, facing a very difficult and unplanned situation, was swiftly guided by Nirosha as she guided the company to adapt to quick strategies without compromising the brand image. Going the extra mile to educate the local packaging suppliers as to their very detailed quality requirements, nearly 60% of their packaging was made to be sourced here in Sri Lanka during the tough times. As Nirosha claims, even though the change was overwhelming, it also created new opportunities and opened up their horizons, eventually leading the brand to cherish the diversification.

Nirosha claims it is important to create a network of trust as a leader among your team. And along with that trust comes the courage to face challenges and offer genuine support to one another as they move forward as a progressive unit.

“Coach your team to accept new challenges by showing them how to cope and sometimes modify the opportunities that arise. If you are not confident as to the acceptance of adaptability, then it’s not an easy task to change them. You need to walk the walk with them together and show result-based scenarios.”

Stating that this is not an easy process, Nirosha cheers on her team to somehow embrace an adaptable mindset, especially during such unprecedented times. While things that happen unexpectedly and out of your control can cause anxiety, those situations can also serve as unique opportunities for growth, as there is no growth without change. Especially as a leader, Nirosha highly believes in this, as she strives to continuously grow herself as an individual, going beyond the expected bounds to create something that is truly original. And she hopes to do so gracefully and thoughtfully while standing as a leading aspiration to the many employees who surround her.

“As a leader, you are mostly used to implementations or strategies that are within your control, so you can set timelines on changes in order to facilitate mental preparation. However, when it occurs unexpectedly, you fear losing control, which then converts to resistance, leading to eventual collapse. This pandemic has taught all of us to deal with all those challenging aspects and made it clear that adaptation is inevitable.”

While embracing these new changes and challenges with an adaptive mindset, Nirosha looks forward to a fresh future for herself as well as British cosmetics. Establishing a mindset that’ll overcome the challenges while constantly honing her skills to a new level of excellence, she hopes to facilitate the company’s growth to a new innovational height that’ll utilize the many resources the local demographics have to offer. She looks forward to guiding the company to achieve the expected goals while creating a web of trust and empathy around the foundational work ethic of the company.

“Being a female is a unique position in leadership, even today. We have that great ability to handle manpower with empathy, which will help leaders seek solutions outside of the traditional framework. It’s a vital quality to understand the needs of others and be drawn towards their feelings. Empathy will allow your team to be open and genuine with you while helping to explore your team’s true potential for the growth of your organization.”

Believing in the strength of integrity and the power of empathy, Nirosha has evidently mastered herself to be an effective leader as she embraces her femininity along with it. Claiming the qualities of femininity as a powerful tool that allowed her to uplift herself to a level of uniqueness, Nirosha stands as a true example of strength and beauty that centres the values her organization stand upon so firmly.

“Every female has very strong interpersonal skills such as multi-tasking, adaptability, empathy, and determination. All she needs is a little push to unleash her true potential. What I have seen, through my own experience, is that as a female, these strong skills can be used as a tool for success, because I firmly believe that a female in a role of leadership, with proper upbringing, will go beyond success.”

Embracing individuality while empowering the unique power of women, Nirosha highly appreciates the progress the world has made so far, creating rightful, equal opportunities for all genders based on the illuminating grounds of humanism. As a contributor to this progress, the British Cosmetics Academy, formed with a framework of empowering women, has led to the unlocking of many talented individuals and the upscaling of the local industry to international standards. Since 2004, more than 2000 females have been inspired to be professionals through their academy, and have successfully created opportunities to achieve their respective careers as leaders or entrepreneurs around the world.

Nirosha takes great pride in being a pivotal figure in that journey, humbly claiming and believing that she has done her best to empower many females into leadership and continues to do so every day as a passionate leader and true trustee of strong-willed individualism. With such generous objectives fueling the future of British Cosmetics, Nirosha claims the power of unpredictability and continues to embrace adaptation as she and her organizations continue to be in a league of their own, far apart from the competition.